Pro 21:2 | KingComments | STEP | is one of the clearest evidences in Scripture of the sovereignty of God. We see this in the lives of the most powerful rulers we meet in Scripture, as with Nebuchadnezzar ( ), Belshazzar ( ), Ahasuerus ( ) and Cyrus ( ; ). God has complete control over them. The same is true of today’s world leaders and also of the two great dictators in the end time, the beast out of the sea and the beast out of the earth ( ). No human ruler is the supreme ruler in the universe, but the LORD. He is truly the King of kings ( ; ; ; ; ). Decisions a king makes in his heart are directed and controlled by God. He turns the king “wherever”, nothing excepted, “He wishes”. He does so in any direction He desires. A king’s heart is in His hand, indicating that He has complete power over it. It is like “channels of water”, with which He does as a farmer does who digs canals to regulate the course of water to and across his land so that it goes exactly where he wants it to go. This is how God acts with the heart of a king. connects seamlessly with . As God knows the heart of a king, so He knows the heart of every human being. A man may believe that his “way is right”, but only in “his own eyes” ( ). We are masters at declaring our way “right” while we are going a crooked way. The true judge of what is in the heart is God. He not only sees the way a person is going, but also “weighs” the “hearts”. He fathoms the motives. The Pharisee who has a very good opinion of himself turns out in reality to have a heart full of pride in himself and full of contempt for others. This judgment He pronounces Who knows what is in man ( ; ). He fully “searches the heart” of man ( ) and knows that it is “more deceitful than all else” ( ). Our view of our path is limited both in time and direction. God is eternal and oversees everything and knows the purpose. Therefore it is good that we pray with David: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” ( ). One of the things that can be right in our own eyes ( ), is to make a sacrifice and then think that our life is right ( ). We then see a sacrifice as compensation for the unrighteousness we do and the injustice we commit with which we can then continue. We give God something and assume that in return He does not look so closely at our life. It does not say here that sacrifices are to be avoided, but that religious acts without a righteous life are worthless. God prefers doing “righteousness and justice” to religiosity. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice” ( ; ; ; ; ). Those who do righteousness and justice keep what God says in His Word, His ordinances of justice. God rejected Cain’s sacrifice because he did not do righteousness and justice, but on the contrary unrighteousness and injustice, which was demonstrated when he murdered his brother ( ). Outward acts such as baptism and the Lord’s Supper are important because God speaks about them in His Word. But if baptism and the Lord’s Supper are nothing but outward acts and our hearts are not involved in them, they are reprehensible acts to God.

‏ Proverbs 21:2

The LORD Directs and Judges Everything

Pro 21:1 is one of the clearest evidences in Scripture of the sovereignty of God. We see this in the lives of the most powerful rulers we meet in Scripture, as with Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 4:1-37), Belshazzar (Dan 5:1-30), Ahasuerus (Est 6:1-14) and Cyrus (Ezra 6:22; Isa 45:1-7). God has complete control over them. The same is true of today’s world leaders and also of the two great dictators in the end time, the beast out of the sea and the beast out of the earth (Rev 13:1-18). No human ruler is the supreme ruler in the universe, but the LORD. He is truly the King of kings (Ezra 7:21 ; 27; Isa 10:6-7 ; Isa 41:2-4; Dan 2:21; Jn 19:11; Rev 17:17).

Decisions a king makes in his heart are directed and controlled by God. He turns the king “wherever”, nothing excepted, “He wishes”. He does so in any direction He desires. A king’s heart is in His hand, indicating that He has complete power over it. It is like “channels of water”, with which He does as a farmer does who digs canals to regulate the course of water to and across his land so that it goes exactly where he wants it to go. This is how God acts with the heart of a king.

Pro 21:2 connects seamlessly with Pro 21:1. As God knows the heart of a king, so He knows the heart of every human being. A man may believe that his “way is right”, but only in “his own eyes” (Pro 16:2). We are masters at declaring our way “right” while we are going a crooked way. The true judge of what is in the heart is God. He not only sees the way a person is going, but also “weighs” the “hearts”. He fathoms the motives.

The Pharisee who has a very good opinion of himself turns out in reality to have a heart full of pride in himself and full of contempt for others. This judgment He pronounces Who knows what is in man (Lk 18:9-14; Jn 2:24). He fully “searches the heart” of man (Jer 17:10) and knows that it is “more deceitful than all else” (Jer 17:9).

Our view of our path is limited both in time and direction. God is eternal and oversees everything and knows the purpose. Therefore it is good that we pray with David: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” (Psa 139:23-24).

One of the things that can be right in our own eyes (Pro 21:2), is to make a sacrifice and then think that our life is right (Pro 21:3). We then see a sacrifice as compensation for the unrighteousness we do and the injustice we commit with which we can then continue. We give God something and assume that in return He does not look so closely at our life.

It does not say here that sacrifices are to be avoided, but that religious acts without a righteous life are worthless. God prefers doing “righteousness and justice” to religiosity. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice” (1Sam 15:22; Pro 15:8 ; Pro 21:27; Psa 40:6-8; Isa 1:11-17; Mk 12:33). Those who do righteousness and justice keep what God says in His Word, His ordinances of justice.

God rejected Cain’s sacrifice because he did not do righteousness and justice, but on the contrary unrighteousness and injustice, which was demonstrated when he murdered his brother (1Jn 3:12). Outward acts such as baptism and the Lord’s Supper are important because God speaks about them in His Word. But if baptism and the Lord’s Supper are nothing but outward acts and our hearts are not involved in them, they are reprehensible acts to God.